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August 27, 2013

The story took place in the future where earth had been extremely polluted and overpopulated... The wealthiest among humans built Elysium - a peaceful, clean & beautiful place for them to live... Citizens of Elysium were all healthy because the medical technology there was so advanced... Only selected humans could live there while the rest of humanity struggled for survival on barren earth... Max (Matt Damon), an earth citizen fell terminally ill... In order to cure his illness, he must find a way to get to Elysium...

This movie is directed by Neill Blomkamp - the one who brought you District 9... For me, there was indeed a District 9 feel when I watched Elysium because of the place setting (barren, apocalyptic earth), gore & pacing...

If I want to compare Elysium with District 9, I would definitely say that the latter is better in terms of story... But when it comes to other aspects, both are almost awesomely great...

Okey, first, the story... What I dislike about it is that there are too much lucky coincidences... It's very convenient for everyone in the story especially the lead, Max, to coincidentally hijacked & robbed the person carrying a history changing luggage! I really hate coincidences in movies...

Well, that is the only thing that I want to complain about...

The visual effects are awesome! What I love the most is the advanced weapons & visually stunning fight scenes... Love the power shield... Love the moment when Max shot a droid & the slow mo effect of it being obliterated... Love the cool aircrafts... CGI orgasm!

Action sequences are cool & engaging...

Matt Damon, being as badass as he is, delivered a brilliant performance as Max... The other character that I love is Kruger - played by Sharlto Copley... Yeah, Copley... The lead of District 9... He made a wicked twisted bad guy...

Bottom line is, I love this movie! The CGI is great... The action's even better... Brilliant performance by the actors... It's just that, in my humble opinion, the story could be made better by reducing the number of lucky coincidences...

Both Flash & his most formidable foe, Eobard Thawne (Reverse Flash / Professor Zoom) has the ability to travel through space & time using Speed Force... The past was changed & it resulted to chaos in the altered present... In the altered present, Wonder Woman & her Amazonians went to war against Aquaman & his army of sea dwellers... The war was so big & apocalyptic, billions of people died... In order to turn everything to the way it originally was, Flash must travel through time & prevent the past from being altered.

I am sure that most movie geeks were thrilled on the announcement of a future real life Superman VS Batman movie and then felt very disappointed with Ben Affleck being casted as Batman...

The fact that Superman & Batman are gonna be in the same movie gets my hopes high on future Justice League movie! I grew up watching the animated series of Justice League & Justice League Unlimited, so this is big stuff for me!

With the focus on those two huge heroes on the big screen, many movie goers & non-comic book fans tend to ignore the fact that there are actually more awesome DC superheroes that they should pay more attention to...

For instance, the FLASH!!

No, Flash doesn't just run fast... He's not just fast on the legs... Everything about him is lightning fast! If you wanna know more about Flash's powers, then you can start by watching this animated movie - The Flashpoint Paradox...

It's awesome in terms of story because non of the main Justice League heroes are like the ones that we're familiar with... Bruce Wayne is not Batman... Batman uses guns... Aquaman & Wonder Woman are merciless warmongers... Superman is a lab rat... Hal Jordan didn't receive the ring of power...

Because of the superheroes' change of characteristics, it's very hard to predict on what comes next in the story...

Supervillains like Lex Luthor & Deathstroke also join in the fight, but not against humanity... Instead, they fight for the survival of human race!

The action scenes are also really cool... Hey, Justice League members battling each other! Of course the result is catastrophic!

Though I would advice parents to not just let their kids watch it without parental guidance... Yes, it's a cartoon movie but there are many gory scenes & blood...

It's artwork is pretty easy on the eyes because of the use of vibrant colors... The drawings are beautiful!

All in all, this Justice League movie easily has become one of my favorites because of the alternate characteristics of our most familiar superheroes... It makes the story so interesting!

August 20, 2013

You heard your mom calling from downstairs... When you're about to go down, your mom appeared & said, "Don't go! I heard it too..."

I begin tucking him into bed and he tells me, “Daddy check for monsters under my bed...” I look underneath for his amusement and see him, another him, under the bed, staring back at me quivering and whispering, “Daddy, there’s somebody on my bed...”

Your reflection in the mirror blinked...

You're tired. You just got home from work... You reach for the light switch. Another hand is already there.

The last man on earth sat on a couch in his house... Then, he heard a knock on his door.

Don't be scared of monsters... Look for them. Look in your closet, look under your bed, look for them everywhere... But don't look up. She hates being seen.

There's a picture of me sleeping in my cellphone... I live alone.

That person keeps staring at me through my window. Smiling. I live on the 14th floor.

Mom woke me up late at night & told me there's an intruder in the house... Mom died two years ago.

I love that my cat is always staring at me. Until I noticed she's always staring at the thing behind me.

August 18, 2013

I often tell wifey how brilliant it would be if all vehicles are equipped with mics and speakers... So, instead of just honking at each other, drivers could just yell through those mics...

This idea came when I was in a car & other drivers started to flash their headlights... It made me nervous because I didn't know what they were trying to tell me... "Is there a roadblock ahead? Is there an accident?"

So, I thought, it'll be easier if they could just tell me what's in front using microphones... "ROADBLOCK KAT DEPAN HOI! KALAU ROADTAX MATI, PATAH BALIK!!"

Just imagine how convenient it would be...

When there's a slow driver on the fast lane & you're in a rush, you can just yell through those speakers, "HOI, KURA2!! KE TEPI LA BODOH!!!" instead of giving them the high beam...

August 14, 2013

Last year, wifey & I celebrated Aidilfitri with her family at Cheras... Ubaid was still in the oven at that time... This year, together with Baby Ubaid, we celebrated first day of Raya at Kuala Terengganu!

Wifey's mom was kind enough to make Ubaid a very cute Baju Melayu.

We look good huh? My lovely little family :-)

At first, we ate nasi minyak, ketupat palas & rendang at my grandmother's house at Seberang Takir, Kuala Terengganu... Many of my cousins & aunts & uncles (my mom's side) were there... It's been a while since I met most of them.

Later on, we went to see my dad's side of the family at Manir, Kuala Terengganu...

What made me happy the most on that particular day was to able to show off wifey & Ubaid to everyone... For some of them, this moment was the first time meeting my two sweethearts...

Before that, I was afraid that Ubaid might cry a lot since he's not too fond of strangers... It turned out that he's not scared at all being around all of my family members... He played & interacted well with everyone.

On the second day of Hari Raya, after having breakfast & saying goodbye to everyone at my grandmother's house, we made our move to Alor Star, Kedah to continue the celebration with wifey's family!

The journey from Kuala Terengganu to Alor Star was a very long one... Luckily, there were only minor traffic jams in Kelantan caused by traffic lights... We left at around 11 am & reached our destination at around 9 pm... It was exhausting.

At Kedah, we stayed at wifey's aunt's house... Wifey's grandmother finally got to meet Ubaid for the first time. While most babies & small kids were scared of wifey's grandma because of her seasoned looks, Ubaid had no problem getting close to her... He even played with her & climbed her wheelchair... Such a friendly baby.

I was hoping to go see a few friends of ours while at Kedah like Aafina & Alief, but time was really limited...

We went back to Dungun on the fifth day of Raya... Traffic was quite smooth except at one part in Kelantan. We were stuck in a jam for an hour... We left Alor Star at around 11 am & reached Dungun at 1 am...

I learned that traffic from Kedah to Kuala Lumpur was worse... Wifey's sister, Mama Long, left Alor Star at 7pm & reached Klang at 4.50 am... The toilets at RnR stops were full, so I couldn't imagine her agony.

Wifey proposed that we buy plane tickets next year.

All in all, this year's Hari Raya celebration was great except for the being stuck in traffic part... Being able to meet family members was the best thing about this Raya!

August 8, 2013

After the success of Upin & Ipin, I've seen so many new local children series making their ways into the hearts of Malaysian kids... Among other popular ones are Bola Kampung & Boboi Boy...

I sometimes wonder what Ubaid will grow up watching... Most probably one of the locals...

It was kinda different for me when I was growing up... Yeah, we did have a few local shows like Keluang Man & Yokies, but most were foreign...

I grew up watching Sesame Street, Barney the Dinosaur, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Doraemon, Tomato Man, Jetman, Flashman, Gaban & other classics... Ahhh... Those were the good ol' days...

Though having local animation industry developing so much is very good to see, I would like Ubaid to grow up watching foreign shows like Sesame Street & Barney...

It's not that I feel local shows aren't good enough... In fact, I did watch them sometimes & they're great! They're hilarious...

It's just that, I managed to grasp English language by indulging myself in English children shows... Sesame Street especially...

I grew up in a Felda area where no one speaks English... My parents didn't speak English, my brothers didn't... Even most of my English teachers spoke in BM so low level kids could follow...

So, I gained most exposure on English language by watching English shows... I first noticed that at a very young age when I found it hard to spell most English words but had no problem pronouncing them...

Being bilingual has a lot of advantages... Some researches even relate bilingualism with having intelligence & cultural awareness...

Kids have the ability to learn language easily because their brains are still developing...

Therefore, I'm thinking of introducing him to shows like Ben 10, Justice League, Dora the Explorer & The Avengers... I also think of banning him from watching translated cartoons often shown on TV9... Have you ever watched Spongebob Squarepants in BM? It's ridiculous... The puns just don't work well in BM...

Back in my days, they only translated Japanese shows like Doraemon & Shin Chan... Today, they translate everything... Pffttt

August 6, 2013

Last two weeks, on my way home from work, I stopped by a 7Eleven store at Paka to buy a Ribena drink... I love Ribena... After I bought my Ribena, I went out of the store & headed straight to my car which was parked about 5 meters from the store...

Suddenly, a stranger wearing grey t-shirt & camo pants came to my side & greeted me like he was a friend...

"Hey, lama tak nampak??"

He got really close & patted my back...

Being mistrustful, I put a distance between us by facing him & stepping back a bit... I put up a smile while I studied his looks... He had a stubble of dark & grey needles for hair... His head was almost bald & greying. I judged that he's in his mid forties... Damn, almost everything about him was grey...

Within seconds, I decided that I didn't know him & walked away, leaving him just like that, without saying a word... I got into my car, locked the doors & quickly drove away...

Yeah, there was a part of me telling how rude that action was... "What if that person really is your friend? or your parents' friend? What if bla bla bla bla"

but a big part of me was so mistrustful, that within seconds, I saw how he put a hand in his pocket like we was holding a knife or something while the other was used to pat my back...

Okey, maybe it was not a knife but I didn't want to wait long enough to find out & risked being stabbed or robbed...

When I think about it, it was a good mobbing strategy... Come up to a person & act like you know him/her... The person will stall out of confusion & it'll give enough room for you to shock him/her with a knife & rob the poor guy/girl... Confuse, shock & rob!! BWAMM!!

The reaction could also be triggered by my introversion... How I hate talking to strangers...

August 5, 2013

Wifey & baby Ubaid are now with me at Terengganu! They're here for Hari Raya of course... We'll be spending the first day of Hari Raya at my grandmother's house at Seberang Takir, Kuala Terengganu... Then, on the second day, we'll be off to Kedah to celebrate with wifey's family...

Anyway, last Saturday, we went for a family day out... Firstly, we went to Mesra Mall to shop a few things & book a table at Pizza Hut... Considering that we had two more hours to spare before buka puasa, I took them to a beach - Pantai Kemasik...

Ubaid seemed to love the playground & the beach so much... The beach was beautiful & not at all crowded... Maybe later we'll come again & get our feet wet :-)